Aspiring game designers have more functionality at their fingertips with today's release of XNA Game Studio 2.0, Microsoft's own toolset for encouraging indie game development. XNA Game Studio 2.0 is a refined toolset that introduces an important new feature: Xbox Live. Now, all titles developed with Microsoft's toolset can use important XBL features like matchmaking.

"When building XNA Game Studio 2.0, we wanted to offer everyone the opportunity to utilize the rich gaming environment of LIVE used by AAA developers for titles such as Halo 3 and Gears of War," said XNA General Manager Chris Satchell in the press release. "We accomplished our goal with this new toolset, and, best of all, it remains highly accessible to students, hobbyists and pros alike."